Variety (Jan 1906)

VAftlfiTY. -it- ■ Shows tl]6 Week SHORT TALKS WITH ARTISTS. At the Circle thin week Lillian Hclil is giving a singing and dancing turn. She is not a good enough danct'i" to hope to make a big hit in her specialty as now given, but if she would secure a couple of "picks" or boys, with her good looks and singing, she would be able to go on in any vaudeville bill, making good without doubt. Shepard Tamp, at the same place, would help himself greatly by freshen- ing up his monologue to include the newest jokes only. One of his present new stories about the "anvils" is good, and by eliminating the old stuff, with clean parodies, he could easily make the change into polite vaudeville also, attaining a position of prominence there. At Hyde and Behman's in Brooklyn are Talbot and Rogers. This is written direct to Mr. Rogers, whom, it is sincere, ly trusted, will not take offense, but ac- cept the suggestion to follow in the spirit it is given if not already attended to. From the front it seeai;'d as though he was in difficulty with his v')ice. l)oth speaking and siiiKing. If this is so and he has not given it his serious attention, he should immediately. It is altogether too important to neglect an instant longer. Go only to the best. Take no chances with others. It may be more expensive for a little while, but it will be much more cheaper and i)eneficial in the end. At Proctor's Fifty-eighth Street Ford West is saying "done" when he should use "did" instead while Dot West says "Did the orchestra leader Mearn' you that" when it should be "teach." Both playing the parts straight, these errors should be correcteil. and the act gone over to avoid similar ones in future. , There is no excuse for a "straight" part having grammatical blunders in it. Cheridah Simpson in "The City Girls" is made to sing as a solo a selection from the "Prince of Pilsen." Whether this is a part of the contract between Bentham and Savage is not known, but if it is not. Miss Simpson should be given a popular selection instead. Probst, a mimic, at the same theatre this week, in one of the announcements explaining the call of the bird he will next imitate, says "a red-wing black • , Tjird." How many people In front, do .you suppose. Mr. Probst, knows the dif- ference? Why be so distinctive, and why give so many imitations which to the hearer not up in the technique of birds* calls sound all alike? The colored women in vaudeville would do well to study the costumes worn by the women of Mallory Brothers, • Brooks and Halliday. Quite tasty dresses are worn, without a rainbow ef- fect being striven for. KEITH'S. There is not})ing startling on the bill here this week—there seldom is. The usual nunil)er of acts perform to the usual audience. Alice iMerce Is about the newest. After an absence of some five years, during which she has toured the world, according to her booking agent, "with great success." she has returned to offer about the same impersonations of prom- inent actors and actresses which are re- membered from her last appearance. She was rr'ceived indifferently, although in "Dlgby Bell's idea of a tough boy at a i)all game" the audience warmed to her percept ii)Iy. Vaudeville is not con- cerned in having emotional actresses of the Mrs. James Brown Potter and Sarah Fiernhardt type reproduced. This was (evidenced by the increased warmth after the Bell recital. Miss Pierces s-inging v( i o cannot stand analysis, and her imitation of Evie Green singing "The Queen of the Philippine Islands" in "Florodora ' suffered in consequence. Carroll .Johnson is a hard worker. An old end song in which he Introduces tambourine playing , is well liked, and he still clins?s to the prize fight de- scripti( a to finish with. The jokes are very old. Something better could be « asily recured. Eddie Mack with his own origination of dancing out a baseball game, caught on in hs customary fashion, and Keno, Walsh and Melrose, in comedy acrobat- ics, do fairly well enough with both. There ir. no question as to the acrobatic end, bu' the comedy depends entirely upon yeur conception. Angle Norton and Paul Nicholson were next to the headline position in their sk'^ch "The Ladies' Tailor." Of Mr. Nicholson's imitations, that of .Tames .1. Corbett stands out in relief. The sk'^tch Itself took well and kept the audience in an uproar. — Annie and J e nni e Y e amana had —the- V HAMMERSTEIN'S. You may secure your money's worth and a great deal over this week at Ham- merstein's. Of the numbers on the bill, eight are headllners, while the other, Caprice. Lynn and Fay is new and re- viewed under New Acts. Joe Welch made his return on this stage, and also appears in the same department. Delia Fox is here for the first time this season, and a full house applauded her heartily endeavoring to show their appreciation, not alone of her vocal ef- ff)rts. but of her success In the contin- uous, the credit for which belongs alone to the little lady. Gould and Surratt played a return (•ate (within two months), and Miss Sur- ratt, in celebration of the event, wore a new costume. This act always goes well, the naturalness of the dialogue, combined with the songs and graceful dancing, catching any kind of a house. The travesty in the opening Is not car- ried i(;o long, and while Miss Surratt Is making a change Gould sings a coster song. He has written one himself, but does not sing it because he doesn't like t'je second verse. It would be a good plan to let those In front decide Instead of taking it upon himself. Staley and Birbeck. "The Musical Blacksmiths." are working faster than ever in the transformation. It was less than two seconds Monday on the first (ban?:e, which is remarkable time. The change back is almost as quickly done. Staley dances on the fioor now instead of a pedestal. That isn't material, how- ever. > , . The Florenz troupe of acrobats filled up t*ie stage, as there are twelve in the company. For so many, the work is slow and lags while formations are made. Some should be working all the lime. The "twisters" of the boy still remains the feature. Watson. Hutchings and Edwards in "Tht Vau de vill e E xchang e." seewred big As Harry Corson Clarke's birthday came on January l.'^th and .Margaret Dab? Owen's on January UMh. these i wo players decided on a joint eelebration. The "big time" came off at Houston, Texas. Miss Owen received many hand- some and costly presents, while Mr. Clarke has added to his antique jewelry, of which he has a large collection. usual h'arty reception extended, and May I) iryea and W. A. Mortimer pleased in the comedy offering, "The Impostor." The six Glincerettis. the second acro- batic number carded, did some clever tumbling and shoulder work. The tricks are don ^ in an easy style, and their work throughout is marked by confi- dence, not a miss or slip marring the performs nee, Maceo and Idalene followed the pic- tures on the program, and even the pic- tures were not new. The Misses Del- more, r-'.rton and Brookes, in their sketch. 'Always in the Way;" Mr. and Mrs Fred Lucier, in a comedy called ".\ Rustic Romeo;" Carl Victor, as an exponent of physical culture, and the sterc'opticon were also there, while "Overture" was dignified by the letter "A." which helped out the alphabetical list. On he- recent Western trip Emma l-'rancis \.'ent from Memphis to lx)S .Angeles where she was taken down with a i')uch of yellow fever contracted in tin- ■" nnessee town. It was not a severe attack, hut made quite a little trouble for the dancer. laughs, and this resulf is generally ob- tained. Criticism is useless in view of the facts, and as long as the trio can pull down the merriment in chunks with their present offering they cannot be blamed for not securing something new, although such an erent might improve the salary and billing position. The Zancigs. just before the pictures, were in a poor place. This act, to have Its full value, should appear after inter- mission, or further up on the bill. Per- sons leaving the theatre divert the at- tention and disconcerts the artists. The mind-reading causes as much talk as ever, none of the "wisest" seemingly be- ing able to catch the cues. The three Dumonds are certain of ap- plause, and the violinist "teases" it for the encore. The music is well liked, but the melodies which are heard each time leave no desire to see them again for a fear of still further repetition. It would not be proper to allow next week's bill here to escape mention. R. A. Roberts. Cinquevalll. Cresny and Dayne, Six Cuttys and the Jackson Fam- ily are among the members, while the others are well up. It will be the best vaudeville show ever seen in New York City at any price. ALHAMBRA. Laughs, with a mixture of music, be- sides some Juggling and acrobatics, were the only things obtainable here this week. "The City Girls." wUh Cheridah Simp- son leading, is rerlewed under New Acts. Jewell's Electric Theatre came next In the entertainment. The andi- ence hugely enjoyed the antics of the manikins. They are handled to a nicety. About the only change discernible in R. J. Jose is the gray color his hair has attained. His voice, while not as sweet as in former years, still gains applause, and the ballads sung have been selected with care, excepting the first number. Mallory Brothers. Brooks and Halli- day are four colored people who play musical Instruments and sing. Mazie Brooks is a genuine musician. Her harp solo, which is cut short to allow the rest to join in on other instruments, is very well executed on one of the most diffi- cult of musical instruments to master, while her singing and handling of the other Instruments stamp her an artist of unusual degree and more especially so among her own race. The other plays a violin only fairly, but sings with plenty of expression and the act as a whole is a novelty among the colored troupes now so frequent. The Four Milons are showing some acrobatics that are of an unusual de- gree of excellence. Paul Milon, the strong man of the four, swings and holds the others with such apparent ease that you are wondering what he could do as a "strong man." Louis Dresser had to explain why she could not continue to sing and the rea- son (that she had no more) is so simple that it should be abolished at once. Miss r>re8ser made a large size hit with her ..jrother's song. She Is quite particular about mentioning that brother. But sup- posing the song shouldn't go sometime; what would Paul say then? Felix, Barry and Barry .give extra work to the printer with that billing. The additional Barry is Miss Barry's sis- ter, and the sketch has been rewritten in the opening to allow the newcomer a legitimate entrance. The re-write is much better than the original. Probst in mimetical offerings helped himself along through an imitation of a railroad train and also bv not doing many of the usual imitations given. He has discovered several birds that New Yorkers never heard of. but the audi- ence believed the noise he made resem- bled the real article, for they appfauded after each effort. Asra, a juggler, did most of the Jug- gling with rubber balls bounding off a billiard table. The billiard cue work has been taken from Cinquevalll, and in fact all the ideas he is now executing are a more or less derivation from the.,-^ work of that artist and others. A re- volver exploding accidentally the other evening nearly caused him serious In- jury, the explosion occurring very close to his face. Mosher. Houghton and Mosher, the comedy bicyclists, have been offered for- eign time.